


Taking Cover

by Aithilin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff, M/M, rainy day fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 06:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15333453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Rain was not wholly unexpected in Altissia. Nyx seemed to enjoy it more than Noctis.





	Taking Cover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JazzRaft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzRaft/gifts).



> Prompted anonymously at my Tumblr, I've decided this is retaliation against Jazzraft's totally unfair and beautiful depiction of Altissia in her own fics. It's on.

“Just like home,” Nyx said as he held out a hand to the street. 

Rain was, apparently, not an unusual thing in Accordo. It was a nation surrounded by water, with a capital built upon the sheltered waves and in touching the cascading walls of a natural wonder thought to be shaped by Leviathan herself. Altissia was known for the cool summer breezes drifting across the open waters and funnelled through the tight canals; for the morning chill that quickly turned to a damp, brisk evening beneath the soft lights of the open plaza. It was a green country, with the towns and outposts beyond the glittering vanity of the salt and stone capital set into rolling green hills and nestled in lush valleys that splayed open to peaceful beaches. 

And lush countries tended to have plenty of rain. 

Rain that splashed in fat, dripping deluges against the stone of the city. That, while not violent storms like those in Lucis, were persistent in their longevity. And Noctis had forgotten all about it when he stepped out that afternoon with only Nyx at his side. 

It was a rare escape in the foreign city. Ignis had vanished to sample the markets scattered through the plazas, Gladiolus had wandered off with Prompto to see the sights and visit the arena. And Noctis… 

Noctis had escaped the diplomatic expectations that had been set on his shoulders since he had joined his father in the strange city with questionable neutrality. And Nyx had taken the excuse to fall into step at his side as they wandered the labyrinth of streets and bridges and watched the darting silver of elusive fish from a cafe table.

“You’re getting nostalgic over rain?”

Noctis had been glad that the tables had wide umbrellas when the rain started. A few drops at first. Hesitant, fat marks of darkness on the polished stone of the old plaza. The afternoon had only started to turn, the golden swaths cut through the canals by the setting sun marred by the haze of humidity from the summer weather. 

He hadn’t even noticed the clouds until they opened up over them. 

He had been in the city to help his father renegotiate the truce that held the world together— that kept the Niflheim forces from their doorstep and Tenebrae free from neighbouring controls. He had been in the city to work and learn, and sit in quietly ornate, muted rooms with far too many lights and cameras, and politely lament not seeing more of the grand city just beyond the stately windows. 

But today he had escaped. 

And now it’s decided to rain, while he sat beneath a wide umbrella not meant for this kind of wet beating. 

But the setting sun still glittered at the edge of the cascades, setting the water on fire with its light. Even as the rest of the city greyed beneath the clouds. 

“Only this sort of rain, your highness,” Nyx grinned as he flicked the water from his hand in his prince’s face. “The kind that’s not really there.”

“Seems pretty real to me.”

“Well, yeah. But it’s still sunny. And it’s warm. And you can still see people out for romantic strolls on the canal.”

“We’re not going for a romantic stroll in the rain.”

“No, you’re already looking like a grumpy cat.”

Noctis rolled his eyes at the grin, but looked out over the streets and plaza, where there were couples walking. Some shared umbrellas, already prepared for the sudden shift in the weather. Others walked without a care, wandering arm in arm as if the street was still bone dry save for the occasional droplet sprayed up from the waves of the canals— lost so far in each other that the world around them was static. There were young couples who scattered when the rain started, squealing and laughing and smiling as if it was part of their game for the day— just another romantic gesture to send them scuttling together into restaurants and cafes and shops. 

And here he was, with Nyx sitting across from him beneath a too big umbrella, suffering the small splashes that weren’t sent far enough by its arch. 

“I can be romantic.”

“I know you can.”

“We’ve been walking all day.”

“And in a very romantic city, little star.”

He wondered if that’s what Nyx wanted— to be so lost in each other that the world could burn around them, or so in touch with the ideal day that the sudden shift surprises them and sends them scattering for shelter with a laugh. He wondered if that was the sort of thing Nyx wanted— the romance of the salt-bleached stones greying with the sudden rain, flowers dripping from every available window and bridge and table while the sun dipped below the walls of waterfalls that framed the city. If he wanted the gentle dotting of warm lights gently flaring to life as the dark of the wet evening finally won over the picturesque day that it had been just hours before. 

It was definitely more romantic than the steel and glass canyons lit by neon advertisements and flooded with people spilling out to the noisy streets from lights that never dimmed. Altissia was elegance and softness floating on the water while Insomnia was harsh and bitter— a bite taken out of the world and sheltered away behind the Wall. 

He wondered if Nyx preferred something else all together. Something that made him relish the soft constant of the rain that was just out of reach beneath their big umbrella. He wondered if Nyx preferred something that Noctis had never seen before, just outside of their sheltered little table, with their paper mugs all but forgotten in their hands. 

“So it rains like this in Galahd?”

“Yeah. But it’s all forest and mountain where I’m from. All you get is this wall of water sometimes, and the rain caught in the leaves before it falls on your head.” Nyx smiled when he spoke of Galahd. When Noctis asked for the little details here and there. “Nothing there like this place, but it’s green.”

“I’d like to see it.”

“You will, little star. I’ve gotta take you home one day.”

The buildings of Altissia rose in levels beyond the plaza they had settled on. The stately offices in the distance, towering over the smaller homes and businesses and museums, would have been stuffy in this weather. Noctis knew that. He knew what it was to sit in those meetings, next to his father, while the patter of the rain against the window distracted him from whatever negotiations were being droned on about. He knew what it was to endure the lectures and diplomacies among the heavy airs of closed off rooms— old books and their settled dusts clinging to his hands despite never touching them, and the oppressive weight of the colognes and perfumes drifting across him as he smiled and nodded as he was taught. 

The rain after those rooms was like a breath of fresh air. Though the incessant, clawing patter against the glass would have driven him mad before the meetings ended. 

Out here, with the flowers dripping from their boxes and the laughter from the young couples splashing in the puddles formed across the cobblestones and mosaics, Noctis could relish the fresh air for what it was. He could smile, even as the dampness clung to his shirt and he could almost hear Ignis scolding him now. The lights were up, the strings of them meant to welcome the visiting foreign dignitaries wrapped and webbed between arches and lampposts and the iron set on impossible stone. 

The city was shining. Slick and sleek and glittering like the stars were falling around them the longer they spent at the small table beneath the big umbrella. 

“Maybe,” Nyx started as he looked over with that grin— all wolfish delight and teasing humour; “we should find cover until this stops?”

“We’re under cover now.”

“Yes, but somewhere better.”

“Like?” Noctis couldn’t help but return that grin. “The hotel?”

“I was thinking the Maagho, actually.”

“We’ll be soaked by the time we get there. Ignis will kill you.”

“I’m sure Weskham will provide something for us until the rain stops.”

“You do remember that you’re supposed to be keeping me out of trouble?”

“No one really thought that through, did they?”

Nyx pulled himself up from the rickety little seat he had been settled on throughout the sunset and offered Noctis a hand. 

They would be soaked through by the time they found a gondola that would take them. They would be imposing on his father’s friend, despite Weskham’s insistence that they visit more often, and that his spare room was nice than any stuffy room at the Leville. He could call Ignis, or send a text, and shrug it off if anyone questioned him being away from his Shield for so long. 

He would have Nyx, after all. 

Noctis smiled as he took the offered hand, hair already dropping into his eyes as they started, hand-in-hand, towards the canal and the nearest gondola.


End file.
